'/l^ Ar 



'libcal Taxation For 
Schools I Alabama 



Prepared and Issued by the 

Alabama Education 

Committee. 



&M 



« • s * *'» » ^ 



Additional Copies of this pamphlet will be furnished 

upon application to Hairy C. Gunnels, Ex^' 

ecutive Secretary, Montgomery, Ala. 

The Phillips-Sheehan Printing Co. Montgomery. 



/ 






ALABAMA EDUCATION 
COMMITTEE. 

Isaac W. Hill, Chairman Montgomery 

T. G. Bush Birmingham 

Edgar Gardner Murphy Montgomery 

RuFUS N. Rhodes Birmingham 

Charles C. Thach Auburn 

Erwin Craighead Mobile 

R. E. Pettus Huntsville 

John T. Ashcraft Florence 

W. W. Screws Montgomery 

John W. Abercrombie University 

Dr. B. J. Baldwin Montgomery 

Sydney. J.. Bowie Anniston 

J. H. Philed^s '.\ . *'.:*. C«I. J . . J . . . ' Birmingham 

J. A. Mooke* :'.\ .-*. -. .\*^ .*.'.:. . . Marion 

H. S. D. Mallory Selma 

Harry Q . *• 0«^'n.n Eis, * '^'Jee'o. . '^e by . . Montgcmery 



ALABAMA'S FIRST QUESTION: 

LOCAL SUPPORT FOR LOCAL 
SCHOOLS. 



A PERSONAL LETTER. 

The following communication was addressed 
on February 15, 1904, to a number of the lead- 
ing citizens of Alabama. The letter is self-ex- 
planatory : 

Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 15, 1904. 

Hon. and Dear Sir: 

I send you herewith the printer's proofs of 
an article on the subject of local taxation for 
educational purposes. This statement has been 
written by Dr. J. H. Phillips, Superintendent 
of Schools for the City of Birmingham. It is 
my purpose to reprint it for general distribu- 
tion among the people of Alabama, and to ac- 
company it — in its published form — by the 
printed comments of a number of the leading 
citizens of the State. The completed pamph- 
let will thus form a local symposium upon 
the subject with which it deals. 

A COLLECTION OF OPINIONS. 

To this collection of brief opinions I earn- 
estly invite you to contribute, making such 
comment upon Dr. Phillips's argument as you 
may think best. Contributors are requested 
to confine their statements within the limit 
of from two to six hundred words, in order 
that the whole pamphlet may not be excessive- 
ly large. 

In sending you this communication, and in 
taking the liberty of asking you to perform 



4 Local Taxation for Schools in Alahatna. 

this public service, may I venture to lay be- 
fore you some of the reasons why I regard 
this subject as of such immediate import- 
ance? 

ALABAMA'S PROGRESS SINCE 1880. 

No citizen of our beloved State can record 
without pride the history of the development 
of Alabama during the past twenty years. 
Industrially and commercially these two de- 
cades have been years of conspicuous change, 
of change from small things to great things, 
and from anxiety to confidence. 

WHAT WE SPEND FOR EDUCATION. 

Unless our educational progress is to keep 
pace, however, with the advancing business 
of the State, — who will hold the larger num- 
ber of the remunerative positions which the 
movement of business is creating? Must these 
be given, in the future, to the trained men 
and women of other localities, while all too 
many of "the sons and daughters of the State 
must be condemned to the less advantageous 
employments? Is there not danger that this 
will follow, unless we bring the training which 
-^labama is giving to her children a little 
nearer to the standard provided by other com- 
monwealths? Alabama expends, per pupil in 
average attendance, only $4.41 a year for pub- 
lic education. Mississippi spends $6.48; Texas 
spends $9.95; Louisiana spends $8.82; Virg;inia 
spends $8.91; Florida spends $10.41; Oklahoma 
spends $13.44; Maryland spends $18.81; Kan- 
sas spends $17.59; Nebraska spends $23.08; 
Iowa spends $24.63. I do not mention the 
even greater expenditures of some of the other 
States of the North and West. No other State, 
apparently, in our whole country, spends as 
little as Alabama. 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 5 

(See the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of 
Education, 1902, Vol. I, p. Ixxxviii.) 

A QUESTION OF BUSINESS AS WELL AS 
A QUESTION OF EDUCATION. 

Need I dwell upon the natural effect of such 
figures in determining the movement of de- 
sirable immigration? To the man who really 
cares about the future of his children — which 
State is likely to seem the more attractive — 
the one which offers to spend $4.50 a year upon 
the child, in the average; or the State which 
offers to spend $20? 

THE INTEREST OF THE CHILDREN. 

But more important and more sacred than 
any of the .commercial or material advantages 
of a strong educational policy is the consider- 
ation of our children's welfare. It is not 
enough that our city children should be well 
provided for. Our larger cities and many of 
our larger towns have ample school accommo- 
dations. But these reach only a small fraction 
of the children of our State. Less than IV2 
per cent, of our people live in incorporated 
places of 8,000 population and over. Outside 
of cities and towns of that size there live more 
than 92 per cent, of Alabama's entire popula- 
tion. Ours are an agricultural people. We 
must not, we cannot forget the country child. 
That in this age of exacting competitions the 
young life of our commonwealth may be fit- 
ted to hold its own, that every eager and 
awakening mind may be wisely trained for 
its share in the labor and service of the 
world, that every human creature may enter 
at least a little way into that happiness which 
comes from knowing how to live intelligently 
and fruitfully, that every child of this State 
of ours may have its chance, — this is a resolu- 
tion which ma^ well become one of the com- 



6 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

manding interests of our religion and one of 
the cardinal tenets of our social and political 
progress. 

V/HAT IS THE DIFFICULTY? 

''But/' exclaim those who know the sacri- 
fices which our people have made for their 
schools, ''Alabama gives more than half of her 
general revenues for public education." It is 
true ; and the fact presents a noble and in- 
spiring record. Where, then, is the trouble? 
If Alabama gives so large a share, a larger 
portion than that given by almost any other 
State from the general revenues, why is it 
that the actual am.ount of her expenditure is 
so small, and that the expenditure of other 
States is sometimes from two to seven times 
as large? Is it because she is poor and other 
States are rich? That is but a small part of 
the difficulty. Other States, too, are poor. 
It is because in Alabama the schools have 
practically no other revenues than those sup- 
plied by general state taxation The separate 
counties have not been allowed to support 
their schools by a tax of their own — levied by 
their ov*m people for the education of their 
method, the method of local taxation, is the 
chief support of public education. The vast 
amount comes almost wholly from this source. 
In Massachusetts, for example, less than one 
dollar out of every hundred comes from the 
State government. More than ninety-seven dol- 
lars comes directly from the people of the dis- 
trict or the locality affected. 

Nor is this exclusively a "Northern plan." 
The plan is working just as well in Mississip- 
pi, where there are more negroes, both actual- 
ly and proportionately, than in Alabama. Al- 
most half the public school funds of Mississip- 
pi come from local taxation. And Mississipni 
spends nearly half again, as much for each 
child in average attendance as Alabama; and 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 7 

the illiteracy of the native white people of 
Mississippi is 8 per cent, while that of Ala- 
bama is nearly 15 per cent. 

The method of local taxation is also in ef- 
fective use in the States of Arkansas, Geor- 
gia, South Carolina, and Louisiana. Just re- 
cently it has been introduced with great vigor 
in North Carolina also, and more than 185 
school districts in that State have voluntarily 
voted an increased local tax for better schools. 
Their people may do this because it is per- 
mitted by the Constitution of the State. In 
Alabama our people have not done this, be- 
cause their State Constitution has prohibit- 
ed it. 

THE BEGINNING OF A BETTER METHOD 

In our new Constitution, however, this inhi- 
bition has been nartially removed. The peo- 
ple of each county — provided the general tax 
limit has not been reached — may vote an addi- 
tional tax of one mill (ten cents on each one 
hundred dollars worth of property) for public 
school purposes. This relief is wholly inade- 
quate. No such drastic limitation has been 
found necessary in other Southern States. The 
neople of Alabama have as much right to be 
free to educate their children as the people of 
South Carolina or Mississippi. And if a coun- 
ty in one section of the State is — for any rea- 
son — unwilling to vote a local tax, why should 
its unwillingness be placed as a barrier in 
the way of other counties, presenting different 
conditions and having' a different disposi- 
tion? I would not advocate compulsion in 
such a matter. It is against compulsion that 
I write. Is it not obvious that our counties 
should be free to do as they like with their 
own? To prohibit the people of a county from 
levying upon their own property if they 
choose to do so — for the education of their 
own children, seems to me both un-democratic 
and un-American. 



8 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

USING WHAT WE HAVE. 

Inadequate, however, is the relief afforded 
by our present Constitution, our people may 
well be urged — wherever they may be disposed 
to do so — to accept it and to act under it. 
Something must be done. Educationally Ala- 
bama has made striking and gratifying prog- 
ress. In the twenty years since 1880, she 
has reduced her negro illiteracy from 80.6 to 
57.4 per cent, and her native white illiteracy 
from 25 per cent, to 14.8 per cent. Yet, while 
this progress should be frequently called to 
mind, we should be guilty of a false kindli- 
ness and a mistaken pride if we failed to face 
the darker side of the picture. The true ser- 
vice of Alabama lies not in the constant flat- 
tery of our people, but in a sympathetic, yet 
fearless revelation of the conditions which en- 
compass them. The course of true affec- 
tion and of a wise loyalty is the course which 
names the disease — not in order to point the 
linger of reproach — but in order to find and 
apply the remedy. If our State is burdened 
with a great mass of popular ignorance, the 
facts concern us, concern our welfare and our 
progress more than they concern anybody else. 

THE TASK BEFORE US. 

Alabama has reduced her illiteracy, but in 
the scale of popular intelligence — as tested by 
the illiteracy of the native white population — 
our State stands 47th in the list! Only three 
other States stand lower in the scale. (See 
U. S. census for 1900, Vol. II, p. ciii, and Re- 
port of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1902, 
Vol. II, p. 2338.) 

There are eight counties in Alabama in 
which 20 per cent, and over of the wh^te rripn 
of voting age are illiterate. These counties 
are St. Clair, Winston, Franklin, Chilton, Cov- 
ington, Cherokee, Cleburne, and Coffee. 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 9 

There are four counts os in our State m 
which there are (in each) more than three 
thousand white people ten years of age and 
over who cannot read and write. These are 
Jefferson, Henry, Jackson and Marshall. There 
are twenty-two counties in which there are 
(in each) over two thousand white people, ten 
years of age and over, who cannot read and 
write. These are Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, 
Chilton, Cleburne, Coffee, Covington, Dale, De- 
l^alb, Etowah, Franklin, Geneva, Henry, Jack- 
son, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Randolph, 
St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, Walker. No 
negroes are included in these figures. Nor 
are any foreigners included. I have here had 
reference only to the native white population. 
The exact figures for each county may be 
found on p. 470, table 84, of the second vol- 
ume of the u. S, Census for 1900. 

There was in the whole State of Alabama in 
1900 a native white population, ten years of 
age and over, numbering 700,823. Of this pop- 
ulation, 103,570 — or nearly one-sixth of the 
whole — could not read and write. That is a 
large number of white people for Alabama. It 
is a number greater than the number of the 
total white population (for 1900) of Birming- 
ham, Montgomery, Mobile, Florence, Hunts- 
ville, Anniston, New Decatur, Opelika, Phoe- 
nix, Selma, Troy, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, Gads- 
den, Bessemer, and Eufaula. In other words 
the number of the native white illiterates of 
the State exceeded at the time of the last na- 
tional census, the number of the aggregate 
white population of our sixteen largest cities. 
It is true that but a small proportion of the 
population of Alabama is in our large cities. 
That fact should be borne steadily in mind. 
And yet, after every conceivable allowance has 
been made, the facts — facts laid bare to the 
world, not bv this or that individual, but by 
the official public records of our government — 
are serious enough. 



10 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

REPROACH WILL LIE, NOT IN ILLITERA- 
CY, BUT IN INDIFFERENCE TO IT. 

Let no one suppose that I have called atten- 
tion to these things because I find it pleasant 
to do so, or in order to bring reproach upon 
our people. I do it in order to remove re- 
proach; I do it in order that by facing the 
facts just as they are, our people may, every- 
where, be roused from indifference, and helped 
toward the finding and the application of a 
remedv. What shall the remedy be? Relief 
must be found in better teachers, better school 
houses, better school supervision, better coun- 
try roads, and in a closer adaptation of our 
public school instruction to the practical needs 
of our people. 

THE OUESTION OF MORE MONEY. 

But back of all these considerations there 
lies the problem of resources. With an expen- 
diture, per pupil in average attendance, of less 
than five cents a day for only about one hun- 
dred days in the year, how are these elements 
of progress to be secured? How — therefore — 
may we solve the problem of resources? 

There are but four possible directions in 
which we may look: 

(1) Larger State Appropriations. It is ob- 
vious, however, that the Legislature can give, 
for the general school fund, little if any more 
than it gives today. With more than half of 
all the revenues going to public education, the 
State — as a State — has practically reached its 
limit. 

(2) Possible National Appropriation. I 
personally believe in the wisdom and the 
justice of such relief. But — even if it should 
be secured — such a provision probably could 
not be obtained in time to affect the life of any 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 11 

living child of school age. And when secured 
it should come in response to local taxation, 
and not as a substitute for it. 

(3) Private Philanthropy. Three great or- 
R*anizations — the Peabody Board, the Slater 
Board and the General Education Board — have 
represented the policy of private aid. The pol- 
icy has been noble in its motive, wise in its 
methods, and helpful in its results. But it is 
wholly, conspicuously, permanently inade- 
quate. The funds of these organizations are 
insufficient for any but exceptional and occa- 
sional cases. There exist upon the files of one 
of these organizations alone, enough applica- 
tions from the South — from institutions and 
localities worthy of every confidence — to ab- 
sorb within a single year the aggregate capital 

,of all three of these Boards. Their work is in- 
dispensable. It must go on, and will go on. 
But it is inadequate and — in the very nature 
of the case — must always be so. 

(4) The Increasing Support of the Schools 
by Local Taxation. It is a method almost 
universally adopted throughout our country; 
it represents the princinle of self-help; it 
deepens interest and responsibility by more 
largely making the support of the schools a 
point of local pride; and, inasmuch as the peo- 
ple always closely watch the use of money they 
themselves directly contribute, it is a method 
of support which insures the largest measure 
of efficiency. 

AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP. 

There are many other considerations which 
it would be well to urge, but the limitations 
of space forbid. Local taxation seems so seri- 
ously, so immediately important, because it is, 
apparently, our only "way out." 

I earnestlv ask that you will kindly weigh 



14 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

tion involves the right of the majority to con- 
trol in purely local affairs, directly, without 
the interposition of the representative system. 

Second — Local option involves the further 
principle that the diversity of conditions in the 
various localities of the State may render a 
restriction that is desirable in one community, 
a positive injustice in another community, 
where the conditions are different. 

The application of local option -to school 
maintenance requires the consideration of 
these two principles. Local self-government is 
admittedly a right, inhering in the people; it 
is fundamental to our entire fabric of govern- 
ment, and antedates all constitutions. The rec- 
ognized units of government are the State, the 
county and the district, or the city. The distri- 
bution of the functions oi government should 
be such as to leave the smaller units untram- 
meled, except as to matters affecting the larger 
units. The theory that the State has a right 
to interfere in the local affairs of the county, 
the city and the district, because these minor 
divisions are the creatures of the State, is cal- 
culated to suppress spontaneous development, 
to check local initiative and to reduce all the 
communities of the State to one dead level of 
uniformity. 

THE PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO TAX THEM- 
SELVES. 

It is natural that the people of Alabama 
should have a wholesome dread of taxation. We 
have here a practical illustration of the adage, 
"The burnt child always dreads the fire." In 
despotic governments, taxation has been used 
almost invariably as an instrument of oppres- 
sion and injustice. Those who were taxed 
were not consulted as to the purpose or the 
amount of the taxes levied, and the revenues 
thus raised were to gratify the ambitions of the 
strong and to oppress and enslave the weak. 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 15 

Under such conditions, taxation will always be 
feared. However reasonable the purpose, and 
however small the amount, taxes levied by any 
but the people themselves will be regarded with 
suspicion. This malady which we may call 
"taxiphobia," is a survival of medieval despot- 
ism. For the last twenty-five years, our consti- 
tutional inhibitions and legislative preroga- 
tives in Alabama have kept the people in an 
acute stage of this disease. The representative 
system has assumed despotic functions. The 
chief reason for these conditions, it is true, is 
found in the need of suffrage reform. With 
this vital question settled, the next step should 
be the restoration of sovereignty to the people, 
in the right to levy their own school taxes, for 
their own benefit and development. Thus only 
will the people of our State be relieved of this 
perpetual dread of taxation and distrust of 
their representatives. 

THE ONLY OBJECTION TO LOCAL TAXA- 
TION. 

The only objection that has ever been urged 
against the local taxation for schools is based 
upon the fear and distrust of the people. The 
masses of the people, it is said, are not only ig- 
norant and unpatriotic, but are also non-tax- 
payers. They will prove too ready to vote an 
excessive rate of taxation, and thus jeopardize 
the rights of property by the heavy burdens 
imposed upon it. The objection is pessimistic 
in the extreme. It is founded upon a want of 
faith in the masses, and strikes at the very root 
of democracy. It is a remarkably strange di- 
lemma we nave in Alabama. The people are 
afraid of the taxing power, and the taxing 
power is afraid of the people. The most pros- 
perous States are those that have no constitu- 
tional limit to their local school tax. Are the 
people of Alabama less intelligent, less patriot- 
ic, or less worthy of the exercise of this right 



16 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

than those of other States? I believe the peo- 
ple of Alabama may be relied upon to dis- 
charge this trust wisely and patriotically. 

METHOD SUCCESSFUL IN THE SOUTH. 

In Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and 
Georgia, whose peculiar problems are much 
like our own, there is a liberal limit to the 
local tax the people themselves may levy for 
schools. In some of our States it is practically 
the only unlimited tax. Yet there is no record 
of abuse of the privilege, either in these States 
or in the older States, where the people have 
enjoyed this right for many years I shall not 
discuss at length the question of tax limita- 
tion. The tendency today, in the majority of 
the States of the Union, is to limit the rate of 
school tax that may be levied by the legislative 
bodies of the several taxing units but to provide 
for direct legislation by a vote of the people, 
where a rate beyond the prescribed maximum 
is desired. It is doubtless wise and necessary 
for the people, through the fundamental law 
of the State, to limit their representatives in 
the district, municipality, county or State, by 
Drescribing both the minimum and maximum 
rates of school tax that may be levied by the 
legislative body of each unit, but it does not 
follow that the people by the same instrument, 
should abrogate their sovereign right to reduce 
the tax below the minimum rate, or to increase 
it beyond the maximum limit, prescribed by 
their servants. A democratic government pur- 
sues a suicidal policy when it declares the peo- 
ple incompetent to decide for themselves what 
improvements they need in their local schools, 
and what sacrifices they are willing to make 
in order to secure those improvements. 

VERY WIDE DIFFERENCE IN CONDI- 
TIONS. 

Another important argument for local option 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 17 

in taxation for schools, is the diversity of con- 
ditions in different sections and communities 
of the State. One community receives from 
the State fund an amount amply sufficient to 
provide for such school facilities as it needs 
for six or eight months in the year. Another 
community, with radically different conditions, 
can scarcely maintain such a school as the peo- 
ple want for three months. The former cpm- 
munity does not need local taxation, the latter 
does. An increase in the State appropriation 
that would provide for the needs of the latter, 
would give the former a needless surplus. The 
Legislature is now doing all that it should in 
the line of direct appropriations. Any further 
increase in this appropriation at this time, 
without local taxation, would, in my judg- 
ment, prove a serious blunder. It would in- 
volve a practical waste of a large portion of 
the State school fund, by placing it in commu- 
nities that do not need it or will not properly 
use it. There are communities in Alabama 
that do not want public schools, and the State 
should never occupy the anomalous position 
of forcing a public school upon a community 
that does not want it, while it forbids another 
community to tax itself to supply its own edu- 
cational needs. 

A STIMULUS TO LOCAL PRIDE. 

Another important consideration should be 
kept in mind. So long as the cities, towns and 
districts of the State must look to the Legisla- 
ture for the support of their schools there is 
little incentive to local effort. Do we encounter 
indifference to school matters at home? Do 
we complain of popular apathy with regard to 
school topics, and the want of educational in- 
terest throughout the State? These conditions 
are not hard to explain. We may talk elo- 
quently and convincingly upon school matters 
to our people, but there is nothing that they 



18 Local Taxation for Schools in Alaba7na. 

can do; they have no voice in the question of 
school maintenance. Apathy and indifference 
to school matters must continue so long as the 
State persists in trying to educate the children 
from the capitol, and in fighting illiteracy at 
long range, while the people must sit at home 
with shackled wills and fettered hands, power- 
less to help themselves. What we need is the 
incentive of self-help, the stimulus of local 
potver. Education is a local problem, and that 
problem in -filabama will never be solved until 
the power is brought nearer to the problem. 

If the schools of Alabama are to be appre- 
ciably improved, it must be through the power 
of local initiative and the spur of local respon- 
sibility. 

THE PEOPLE MUST BE INTERESTED. 

It is important that the Legislature shall be 
interested, but it is far more imnortant that 
the people shall be interested. It is important 
that the Legislature shall be sympathetic and 
liberal, but it is far more important that we 
have sympathetic and liberal communities, 
with power to act up to their ideals of right, 
and to their conviction of their needs. 

Some one has said that a presidential elec- 
tion every four years is a liberal university to 
the people of this country. The discussion of 
platforms and measures affords a generous ed- 
ucation. Local campaigns in which school 
policies and measures are discussed, instead 
of mere personalities, will serve to broaden and 
educate the people. Let the question of a local 
school tax be submitted to the people; the re- 
sult will be local agitation, free discussion, 
competition and progress. In many of the 
'Southern States we find the school district rap- 
idly developing as a unit of self-government. 
Mr. Bryce states that the country public school 
in the South is destined to accomplish for lo- 
cal self-government what the meeting house 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 19 

did for New England. The school district 
must become the key to local self-government 
in the rural communities of Alabama. This is 
the real battle ground of true democracy. 

MONEY IS NOT ALL THAT IS NEEDED. 

Many people imagine that an efficient State 
school system is merely a question of money, 
no matter how the money is obtained. This is 
a grave mistake. Money is necessary, but it 
makes a great deal of difference in the interest 
and sympathy of the patrons of the schools, if 
they are individually responsible. In many 
communities of the State, the public schools 
are still referred to contemptuously as "free 
schools," and "charity schools," and "pauper 
schools." How can it be otherwise when the 
State forces a public school of equal duration 
upon all communities alike, whether they want 
it or not? How can it be otherwise when the 
people of the community contribute nothing 
directly to the maintenance of their school and 
consider their per capita school fund as a sti- 
pend graciously bestowed by a liberal Legisla- 
ture? It is not money alone that our schools 
need, but with it they need local sympathy, 
local responsibility and local pride. The result 
of the present school fund in Alabama would 
be more than doubled, in my judgment, if at 
least one-fourth of it were raised by local taxa- 
tion, voted by the people themselves. School 
efficiency demands that maintenance and re- 
sponsibility shall not be separated, but go hand 
in hand. 

Instead of depending absolutely upon the pa- 
ternal interest of the State for increased appro- 
priations and general taxes for the mainten-' 
ance of our schools, let us strike out constitu- 
tional fetters from our limbs and, like free- 
men, exercise the rights of freemen, in remov- 
ing the burdens of illiteracy from our shoul- 



20 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

ders. This is the privilege of democracy, the 
duty of patriotism. 

BY THE HON. SYDNEY J. BOWIE, MEM- 
BER OF CONGRESS FROM THE 
FOURTH ALABAMA DISTRICT. 

I favor local taxation in addition to the State 
fund, for the benefit of our public schools, for 
two reasons, first in this way only can the 
"oroper local pride and interest, which is essen- 
tial to the best results, be aroused, and, second- 
ly the State fund, which has reached its max- 
imum, is notoriously inadequate. The right of 
a community to tax itself for public purposes, 
it seems to me, is indisputable, and the denial 
of that right is contrary to the spirit and ge- 
nius of our institutions. 

Thomas Jefferson, the founder of Democra- 
cy and in many particulars the greatest states- 
man this country ever produced, said : "Preach 
a crusade against ignorance! Establish and 
improve the law for educating the common 
people! Let our countrymen know that the 
people alone can protect us from the evils of 
misgovernment." And in discussing his fa- 
mous bill for the education of the people of 
Virginia he said: 

"The expense of the elementary schools for 
every county is proposed to be levied on the 
wealth of the county and all the children, rich 
and poor, to be educated at these three years 
free. 

"The truth is, that the want of good educa- 
tion with us is not from our poverty, but from 
the want of a system. More money is now 
paid for the education of a part (referring to 
their private school systems) than would be 
paid for the whole if systematically arranged. 

"What will be the retribution of the wealthy 
individual (for his support of general educa- 
tion?) First, the peopling of his neighborhood 
with honest, useful, enlightened citizens, un- 
derstanding their own rights and firm in their 



Locul Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 21 

perDetuation. Second, when his own descend- 
ants become poor, which they generally do 
within three generations (no law of primo- 
geniture now perpetuating wealth in the same 
families) their children will be educated by 
the then rich, and the little advance he now 
makes to poverty himself, while rich, will be 
repaid by the then rich to his descendants 
when they become poor, and thus give them a 
chance to rise again. This is a solid consider- 
ation and should go home to the bosom of ev- 
ery parent. It will be seed sown n fertile 
ground. It is a provision for his family look- 
ing to distant times and far in duration be- 
yond what he now has in hand for them." 

Mr. Jefferson was one of those statesmen 
who saw far in advance of the people of his 
own day. His law involved first, primary 
schools in every neighborhood for every child 
free of all tuition for three years, not of three 
months each, but of nine months each; second, 
a high school in every county, and third, a uni- 
versity in each State, showing that while he 
believed in free primary education for every- 
body, he also believed that the opportunity for 
higher education for those who wanted it 
should be placed within their reach. 

The State of Alabama now contributes about 
one-half of its total revenue to the public 
schools of our State. This is all the State can 
do at present and probably all it v/ill ever be 
able to do, because the necessary expenses of 
the government are keeping pace with the rev- 
enues. What are the counties doing? Abso- 
lutely nothing. Not a county in Alabama pays 
a penny for this purpose. The towns are doing 
something, but fully ninety per cent, of our 
population is rural and town schools cannot 
reach them. We have therefore practically 
nine-tenths of our school children without a 
particle of help in the matter of education, ex- 
cept from the State treasury. 

Can we succeed in removing the blight of 



22 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

illiteracy from our children on that system? 
The best answer to that question is the extent 
of illiteracy itself among the white population 
in the State of Alabama, Avhich is today prac- 
tically the same as it was fifty years ago. That 
the present sum raised for public school pur- 
poses is entirely inadequate is established by 
evidence without dispute. That it cannot be 
increased by State aid is equally true. 

Indeed the natural increase in our children 
of school age is greater than the increase in the 
school fund, to the extent that, whereas, the 
State raised a sum last year sufficient to allow 
$1.37 for every child of school age, the alarm- 
ing fact is disclosed this year that this small 
and inadequate amount was actually reduced 
to $1.31, so that we are really traveling back- 
wards. What then are we to do? Are we to 
sit idly by and see one-sixth of our white popu- 
lation uneducated and one-third more so im- 
nerfectly educated as to be of very slight benefit 
to them, or shall we face C'^i issue like men and 
settle it? It seems to me that the issue ought 
to be met and solved. We must do away with 
the idea that we are too poor to educate ouj" 
own children. If there is anything that can be 
said on the subject, it is to repeat the words of 
Dr. Curry, "Not too poor to educate them, but 
too poor not to educate them." 

I do not claim that the illiterate white man 
is any worse than the educated white man. I 
do not think it is a question of morals at all. 
However, generally speaking, being able to 
read, especially the word of God, would seem 
to conduce to oetter morals; but the point does 
not lie there. The fact is, that an uneducated 
man, however honorable, however industrious, 
or patriotic, has the door of opportunity shut 
forever in his face. What public preferment 
can come to the man who can neither read or 
write? What real opportunity can come to 
him in business? Absolutelv none. Of course, 
with great energy along with courage he may 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 23 

triumph in part over his condition and accu- 
mulate a small stock of this world's goods, but 
"how small it must be in comparison with what 
lie could accomplish with the same amount of 
-energy and courage if he had an education. 
And just here is also the case of those who 
liave but a smattering of education. They are 
iDetter off, of course, than those who have none 
:at all, but how slight are their advantages! Is 
it true patriotism to leave them and their chil- 
dren in this practical V hopeless condition? Is 
it for the welfare of our State or is it for the 
welfare of even the prosperous people in our 
State? If we place it upon the lowest basis, 
the money side of it alone, is it not our duty 
and to our interest to provide adequate means 
for at least the primary education of all our 
people in the State? The only way this has 
been or ever can be done is through local effort 
and the only way that local effort has ever been 
obtained is through local taxation. 

Alabama enjoys the distinction of being the 
only State in the Union which denies to the 
people the right, under their minor civil divis- 
ions, to tax themselves for the education of 
their own children. The rural population of 
the State of Iowa is nearly the same as the 
rural population of Alabama, In Iowa they 
have, and have had for many years, a splendid 
school system based upon local taxation. Ala- 
bama's expenditure per pupil in average attend- 
ance is only $4.41 per year for education, 
while Iowa expends for the same purpose 
$25.63 per pupil per year. Both States are 
principally farming States. The manufactur- 
ing industries are nearly the same in both 
States with the advantage slightly in favor 
of Iowa because of its larger cities. Now note 
the difference. While the number of people, 
chieflv farmers, in both States is practically 
the same, the total v^ue of farms in Alabama 
in 1900, as shown by the census, was $179,399,- 
882, and in Iowa, $1,834,345,546, or more than 



24 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama, 

one thousand per cent, of value in excess of 
Alabama. In net yield per farm, Alabama is 
below every State in the Union except North 
Carolina, and enjoys the unenviable distinc- 
tion of having a larger percentage of white 
illiteracy in any State in the Union with the 
exception of Louisiana and North Carolina. The 
native white illiteracy of Alabama is 14.8 per 
cent.; of Iowa is 1.2 per cent. 

I do not bring out these figures to reflect up- 
on Alabama at all, because I am intensely loy- 
al to the State. I believe it has the finest cli- 
mate, the finest variety of soil and has as good 
citizenship as any in the Union, but I know of 
no way of reaching this question except by 
stating the facts about it. If self-praise is a 
weakness, self-deception is a crime! 

Let us continue the comparison between 
Iowa and Alabama a little further. Alabama's 
large number of negroes may account for some 
of the difference, but by no means for all of it. 
The amount of wheat produced in Iowa per 
acre in 1902, as shown by official records, was 
12 7-10 bushels; in Alabama, 6 bushels. The 
amount of corn in Iowa per acre, 32 bushels; 
in Alabama, 8 4-10 bushels; the amount of oats 
per acre in Iowa, 30 7-10 bushels; in Alabama, 
10 9-10 bushels. Alabama was the smallest 
State in the Union in 1900 in the production 
of wheat and oats per acre, the forty-seventh in 
corn, and the lowest in the yield of cotton per 
acre except Oklahoma and Florida which are 
not properly classed as cotton States at all. 

Will our people submit to these conditions 
or will they take hold of it and conquer it? We 
have the best variety of land, as snlendid a 
citizenship, and as good a climate as there is 
in the world. Then where is the trouble? Be- 
tween eighty and ninetv per cent, of our people 
live on the farms and they have no schools 
except such as are provided by the State. These 
schools are notoriouslv inadequate. What then 
is the remedy? I know of but one answer 



Local I'axation for Schools in Alabama. 25 

which other States have made to this question, 
and that is, to let the people of each communi- 
ty settle the question of the education of their 
own people in their own way. If we may not 
guide our feet by the lamp of experience, by 
what light shall they be guided? 

I do not think the present system of school 
maintenance in Alabama is logical or can ever 
be made effective. It takes no account of the 
difference of conditions in localities. 

For example, in the great County of Dallas 
there were only 266 illiterate whites over ten 
years of ao-e when the last census was taken; 
in Greene, only 123; in Lowndes, 209; in Ma- 
con, 160; in Montgomery, the Capital county 
of the State, only 478; Sumter, 172; Wilcox, 
307; Bullock, 358. Now contrast these figures 
with Blount, 2,657; Calhoun, 2,747; Cherokee, 
2,499; Coffee, 2,982; Marshall, 3,055; Henry, 
3,266; Jackson, 3,715; Jefferson, 4,532. The 
difficulty oi the situation is, we provide the 
same law, the same revenues and same condi- 
tions for the first eight counties that we do for 
the last eight. Is it reasonable? 

It seems to me it is just as unreasonable as 
the tyrant Procrustes, who demanded that all 
of the men in his army should be exactly six 
feet tall. When told that it would be impossi- 
ble to comply with his request and get any con- 
siderable number of men, he said "Not so, just 
lay the men down upon a bed six feet in 
length, and those who are less than six feet 
tall can be stretched to the limit and those 
who are more than six feet can be cut off to 
that extent." In that way he secured the bless- 
ings of uniformity! 

I would not impose a local tax upon any 
community that did not want it or did not need 
it, but those that do want it and do need it 
should not be compelled to wait upon others 
who do not. I believe in a limit upon taxation, 
but I do think, considering the necessity and 
importance of education, without which, as 



26 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

Mr. Jefferson said, a republic cannot live, the 
people should have the right to tax themselves, 
something! 1 do not contend that it should 
be left to them to levy an unreasonable 
amount, but I do say that, under proper restric- 
tions, they ought to have a right to levy some 
amount. Why not? It seems to me the denial 
of this right is a denial of the principle of 
home rule, upon which not democracy alone,, 
but our very institutons depend. There may 
be some facts which we do not care to talk to- 
the world about, but only the foolish ostrich 
hides its head in the sand. Is it the part of 
wisdom to shut our eyes to conditions staring 
us in the face? I do not believe the State as 
such can, or ought to, do more than it has for 
our public schools, but when a community in 
our State having the will, and necessity, wants 
to relieve itself of the burden of illiteracy by 
placing a reasonable tax upon its own proper- 
ty, I think the denial of that privilege is a 
blow at self-government and an unquestionable 
injury to our peov»le. 



FROM THE HON. I. W. HILL, STATE SU- 
PERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION 
OF ALABAMA. 

I have read with much interest your, letter 
of Feb. 15, and, also the statement of Dr. 
J. H. Phillips on the question of local taxation 
for school purposes. The statistics furnished 
in your letter prove conclusively that some- 
thing must be done in Alabama. You say 
truly, "Ours are an agricultural people." The 
boys and girls found among the 92 per cent, of 
the population found outside of cities contain- 
ing 8,000 population, or more, have the same 
right to educational advantages that their 
cousins in the cities possess. The cities and 
larger towns manage by the exercise of their 
corporate rights to secure sufficient sums of 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 27 

money to maintain efficient school systems. 
The rural school depends entirely upon the 
per capita disbursement by the State and vol- 
untary contributions from its patrons. Dr. 
Phillips has grasped the situation in Alabama. 
Local taxation is the only solution of the prob- 
lem. Alabama, as a State, is doing, at this 
time, all that she should be asked to do. Let 
the counties now come forward and help them- 
selves. Let us then provide the way by which 
the districts may help themselves. Many of 
the districts which reserved the right of local 
taxation for school purposes under the new 
Constitution, have already voted the tax. I 
believe many others would do the same thing 
had they the constitutional right. 

Count me a "full scholar" on the right of 
local taxation for school purposes by both 
counties and districts. 



OTHER ENDORSEMENTS. 

In addition to the letters from Mr. Bowie 
and Supt. Hill endorsing the statements of 
Mr. Murphy and Dr. Phillips, the Alabama 
Education Committee has strong letters en- 
dorsing these two articles from a large number 
of prominent Alabamians, among whom are 
the following: 

Dr. John W. Abercrombie, Pres. of Universi- 
ty of Alabama. 

Dr. C. C. Tnach, of the Alabama Polytech- 
nic Institute. 

Ex-Gov. W. C. Oates, Montgomery. 

Judge Thomas G. Jones, Montgomery. 

Congressman George W. Taylor. 

Congressman A. A. Wiley. 

The late Congressman Chas. W. Thompson. 

Hon. T. G. Bush, Birmingham. 

Pres. M. C. Wilson, of State Normal College, 
Florence. 

Pres. C. W. Daugette, State Normal College, 
Jacksonville. 



28 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

Pres. E. M. Shackelford, State Normal Col- 
lege, Troy. 

Pres. A. P. Montague, of Howard College. 

Major W. W. Screws, Editor-in-Chief, Mont- 
gomery Advertiser. 

-Hon. Erwin Craighead, Editor of the Mobile 
Register. 

Rev. John A. Rice, D. D., Montgomery. 

Mr. J. D. Barron, of the Montgomery Ad- 
vertiser. 

Dr. B. J. Baldwin, Pres. of the Board of Edu- 
cation, Montgomery. 

Judge J. H. Disque, Gadsden. 

Supt. G. W. Brock, Opelika. 

Hon. E. P. Wilson, St. Stephens. 

Mr. Chas. A. Olivet, Double Springs. 

Hon. W. H. Samford, Troy. 

Hon. R. E. Pettus, Huntsville. 

Hon. Earle Pettus, Athens. 

Judge J. R. Walker, Huntsville. 

Prof. H. O. Murfee, Marion. 

Pres. John Massey, Tuskegee. 

Hon. John B. Knox, Anniston. 

Mr. Alex T. London, Birmingham. 



THE LOCAL TAX IN TALLADEGA 
COUNTY. 

The following letter from Supt. John C. 
Williams, of Talladega county, shows the re- 
sult of the local tax in that county. The tax 
was levied in Talladega county last June. 
From Mr. Williams' letter, it will be seen that 
the average school term has been increased 
from five months and eight days, to seven and 
one-half months. The school attendance has 
been increased from twenty-fi.ve to thirty per 
cent. There are better teachers, better school 
houses and greater interest in the cause of 
education. 

Talladega, Ala., May 4th, 1905, 
Hon. S. J. Bowie, 

Anniston, Ala. 

Dear Sir: In reply to your recent inquiry 



Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 29 

m regard to the benefits of local taxation for 
the public schools of Talladega county, permit 
me to say that ior the year October, 1903, to 
October, 1904, the average term of the schools 
was five months and eight days. This year, 
October, 1904, to October, 1905, the terms will 
be at least seven and a half months. 

Last year the following schools had onl" five- 
month contracts, and if they were continued 
for a longer time it was by the citizens sup- 
plementing the public fund. This year they 
have contracts tor seven months, as follows: 



Patten's Chapel. 

Hall's Schoolhouse. 

Lincoln. 

Eureka. 

Dry Valley. 

Sastaboga. 

Munford. 

Silver Run. 

Antioch. 

Hopeful. 

McElderry. 

Sunnyside. 

Providence. 

Flinn Springs. 

Ragan. 

Pine View. 

Renfroe. 

Ida Academy. 

Talladega. 

Vindale. 

Ironaton. 

Smyrna. 



Mardisville. 
Plantersville. 
Arta. 
Laniers. 
Wewoka. 
Berneys. 

Chandler Springs 
bvcamore. 

Cruise Schoolhouse. 
Childersburg. 
Rocky Mount. 
Center. 
Odena. 
Herd's Gap. 
Emawhee. 
Sylacauga. 
Wynette. 
Kent Hill. 
Fayetteville. 
Russell. 

Talladega Springs. 
Kymulga. 



The schools in the districts of Talladega, 
Laniers, Wewoka, Childersburg, Sylacauga, 
Fayetteville and perhaps others, will continue 
to terms of nine months, owing to the fact 
that the public fund was supplemented. In 
district 9 the public fund is supplemented by 



30 Local Taxation for Schools in Alabama. 

the town of Talladega to the aomunt of $3,- 
320.75. 

I do not make out my annual report until 
September 31st, but am certain the attendance 
this year will show an increase of 25 or 30 
per cent, over the attendance of last year. The 
teachers are better equipped and take a more 
active interest in their work. The personnel 
of the teachers is improving and higher grade 
teachers are finding employment at increased 
salaries. 

I am thoroughly familiar with the school 
conditions of Talladega county for several 
years past and can say from personal knowl- 
edpre that the spirit for educating the children 
was never at so high a point, which measure 
is giving us better teachers at increased sal- 
aries, and the children a free school for at 
least seven months in the year, when hereto- 
fore they had only five months in the year. 

Yours truly, 

Jno. C. Williams, 

County Superintendent. 

Under tnese circumstances, how can anyone 
oppose the movement? 



WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED IN 
ALABAMA. 

The table given below shows the counties in 
Alabama which have, up to this time, levied 
the one mill tax allowed by the Constitution. 
In the table, the State appropriation is given, 
the amount derived this year from the local 
tax, and the total fund from these two sources. 
The table does not show the poll tax nor other 
special school funds. An examination of the 
table will show that in each one of the coun- 
ties, the school term can be increased from two 
to two and one-half months. As a consequence, 
comes, naturally, better paid teachers, better 
attendance, and greater interest in the cause 
of education. 



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